The Great Wish Stakes
by Ember A. Keelty
Summary: Seventeen-year-old Hester Coltsfoot makes a wish on a magical Jirachi to be transported to the Pokémon world, but the Hoenn she finds herself in is far from the place she envisioned. Perhaps she can conquer the Pokémon League and seize the power to shape the world from the wicked hands that wield it — but not without sacrifice.
1. The Girl in the Pokéball

_(Content note: This is a Moemon story, though not a conventional one. Though there absolutely will not be any sex scenes, there will be strong, potentially disturbing sexual themes throughout, as well as suicidal ideation.)_

**Prologue: A Certain Private Chat Room**

Amber: All right, here goes everything!

Amber: See you on the other side, Hes!

Hester: It's incredibly unlikely that this will work for both of us, you know.

Amber: Dare to dream, my friend!

Amber: Or should I say... dare to wish!

Hester: Let's just get this over with.

Amber: Fine, fine! Good bye, Jirachi!

Amber: And hello Pokémon world!

Hester: All right, I received it.

Hester: Are you still there?

Hester: Amber? Did it actually work?

Amber: ...No.

Amber: I'm still here.

Amber: Damn it! I was so sure I would be one of the chosen ones.

Hester: Well, at least you got a shiny Kyogre out of it.

Amber: Yeah, that's a real great consolation prize: some unusual-colored pixels.

Amber: Absolutely compares to getting to go to the real Hoenn and own real Pokémon.

Hester: We don't know for a fact that the players who successfully wish themselves away even end up in the Pokémon world.

Hester: All we know is that they disappear.

Hester: Honestly, you might be better off.

Amber: If you really believed that, you wouldn't be doing this.

Hester: Are you sure about that?

Mrs. Stone (Admin): Tick tock! Take it to the forum.

Mrs. Stone (Admin): You can always get back on the waiting list, Amber. Maybe you'll have better luck next time.

Mrs. Stone (Admin): Until then!

**Amber has been kicked out of the chat.**

**Raven has been invited into the chat.**

Raven: Hi Hester! Did you get a chance to look at what I'm offering?

Hester: Yeah.

Raven: If I were you, I'd take the Thundurus. It's got near perfect IVs. Of course, if you're more interested in filling your pokedex, I've got all the other AS-exclusive legendaries too.

Hester: I have AS too.

Raven: Oh. Well, hey, the Thundurus rec still stands, or if there's anything you like in my collection of shinies...

Hester: Don't bother. Just send me a wurmple or zigzagoon or something.

Raven: Oh come on. This is THAT Jirachi. You must have waited months for it. If it doesn't work for you, you're going to hate yourself for not making the most of the opportunity while you had it.

Hester: It would just be a waste, though. Whatever happens, I'm never going to use the Pokémon you send me.

Hester: This wish is my last hope. If it doesn't work, I've got a bottle of sleeping pills I'm going to take.

Raven: Whoa.

Raven: No. That's not happening.

Hester: It isn't really up for debate.

Raven: I'm not trading you ANYTHING until you promise me you're not going to do that.

Mrs. Stone (Admin): Raven, this is your one warning. Threatening to break the chain gets you skipped.

Raven: She's talking about killing herself!

Mrs. Stone (Admin): Do you think this is the first time in twelve years I've heard that? Usually they're back on the forum by the next morning.

Raven: I'm sorry, but are you completely insane?

Mrs. Stone (Admin): I've been overseeing a secret society for passing around a magical Jirachi since we had to use link cables to do it. Draw your own conclusions.

Mrs. Stone (Admin): Tick tock, Miss Raven.

Raven: Okay, okay!

Raven: Hester, I'm sending you the Thundurus. You BETTER not waste it.

Hester: Fine.

Raven: Aaaaaand... sent!

Raven: I've got it! I've got the Jirachi!

Raven: Hester, are you there?

Raven: Hester?

Raven: Hessssterrrr?

Mrs. Stone (Admin): Well well well!

Mrs. Stone (Admin): Looks like we might have another one!

**Chapter 1: The Girl in the Pokéball**

Hester Coltsfoot woke up in the back of a moving truck.

It was dark, and her eyes took a moment to adjust, but she didn't need to see to know exactly where she was. Pokémon Emerald had been the first video game she'd ever played. She'd run through it five times from start to finish before she turned nine. If that weren't enough, she'd started playing Alpha Sapphire just a few months ago.

She took a deep breath of air redolent of old cardboard. Her wish had been granted. Everything was going to be all right.

"Congratulations, Hester!" said a voice like the jingling of bells. "Your wish was strong enough to reach me. Welcome to Hoenn!"

Jirachi appeared in front of her, illuminated by a soft white glow.

"Thank you," Hester whispered to it. "Thank you so, so much."

"Don't thank me yet — you still have your whole journey ahead of you! You're about to take part not just in the Hoenn Pokémon League, but also in the Great Wish Stakes. As the hero of this story, if you manage to defeat the champion, you'll unlock the power to shape the very world to your wishes."

"The power to shape the world?" Hester wasn't sure whether or not she wanted that. It sounded like it could either be spectacular, or else spectacularly dangerous. "What does that mean?"

"Why don't you go find out for yourself?" Jirachi said. Then the truck lurched to a halt, and it vanished in a flash.

The back hatch of the truck slammed open, filling the compartment with light. Hester hopped out, and was greeted by a smiling woman.

"We're here, honey!" the strange woman said, and wrapped Hester in a hug. Hester tensed.

"What's wrong, Hester?" the woman asked. "Don't tell me you're suddenly too old to hug your mother!"

This woman looked nothing like Hester's mother — for one thing, she was white. Nevertheless, Hester made herself relax and hug her back. She wouldn't be staying in Littleroot for long. She could deal with this until she left.

"Well, this is Littleroot Town!" the mother said. "How do you like it?"

"It's beautiful," Hester said, and meant it. She'd never been out of the city before. There were trees and grass and even wildflowers growing all on their own around the roads and houses. The air itself somehow _smelled _green.

The mother showed her into the house, still chatting away, and Hester did her best to feign interest. She would not be living here. She would be living on the road. Her Pokémon would learn secret power, and she would make a little hideaway in a cave somewhere, and that would be where she went when she wanted a place of her own to sleep.

"One of Dad's friends lives in town," the mother said to her at last. "Professor Birch is his name. He lives right next door, so you should go over and introduce yourself!"

"All right, I'll do that!" Hester said, and hugged the strange woman good bye.

She did not go next door. Professsor Birch wouldn't be there, and Brendan would. Hester had never liked Brendan much in Emerald, and had been outright dismayed at the more romantic bent his relationship with the player character took on in Alpha Sapphire. The last thing she wanted to do right now was risk getting tangled up with some _boy_.

Instead, she hiked north until she found what appeared to be the boundaries of the town, and then west until she found a road leading out of it. Then she took a seat on a large rock and waited for the scream.

—

"H-help me!"

Hester grinned and took off running in the direction of the cry.

The scene she arrived at was one she knew well: a portly, brown-bearded man stood backed against the tall grass, cringing in fear. His satchel, apparently dropped in his panic, lay in the road just out of his reach.

But there was something very wrong.

The creature menacing him looked enough like a Poochyena from a distance, but as Hester got closer she saw that it was, in fact, a girl — a _naked_ girl, with long gray hair, wolf's ears, and a fluffy tail. She crouched on all fours at Birch's feet and glared up at him with sharp teeth bared.

"What were you doing near my den, Pokédex man?" the girl asked.

"N-nothing! Nothing at all! Just passing through, haha!" The girl growled like an animal and snapped at his legs. The professor just barely evaded her fangs. "You there!" he called to Hester. "There are three Pokémon in my bag there! Take one and help me!"

Hester had very little idea what was going on here, and didn't much like what idea she had. Still, she couldn't just stand by and let someone get hurt. She reached into the satchel, selected the Pokéball marked with a green capital-T, and threw it.

What came out wasn't a Treecko, but a girl with a green dress, green hair, and green, curly tail. She looked maybe twelve years old.

"Um, hello," Hester said to her. "Could you chase off that... Poochyena... and save the professor, please?"

The green girl turned to her with a look of bewilderment. "Are you my new trainer?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"All right!" The Treecko-girl beamed and did a little jump into the air. "Finally! Just tell me what to do, Mistress!"

That was not a thing that Hester wanted to be called ever, but there was no time for corrections.

"Just use pound over and over until you win, okay? Don't worry about stat changes."

"Got it!" The Treecko-girl bounded up to the Poochyena-girl and began pummeling her with her tail. The Poochyena-girl clawed and bit at her, managing to scrape her up about as badly as a fall on rough concrete, but eventually gave up and ran off, still on all fours.

"And don't come back!" the Treecko-girl shouted after her, and then, giggling, ran up to Hester and wrapped her arms around her waist.

"You're bleeding," Hester said in dull horror.

"Oops! Sorry!" The Treecko-girl backed away. "I didn't mean to get your clothes dirty, Mistress!"

"My name is Hester."

"Yes, Mistress!"

"So _call _me Hester."

"Yes, Hester!"

That didn't solve anything, really.

"Hester!" Professor Birch exclaimed. He came rushing up to her, grabbed her hand, and pumped it up and down. "Hester Coltsfoot! You must be Norman's girl! I've heard so much about you from your father! But this isn't the best place to talk, is it? Let's go back to the lab and get Treecko patched up."

He headed off to the south. Hester hesitated to follow him, but the Treecko-girl took hold of her arm and tugged, and Hester supposed she did need healing.

Still, she had an awful feeling that nothing was going to be all right after all.

—

Back at the lab, the professor sprayed the Treecko-girl's scrapes with potion. Hester watched as they closed up near-instantly, and forced herself to actually_ think_.

It was normal for Pokémon to be hurt in battle. It wasn't normal for them to look like human children, but for all moral purposes, it shouldn't really matter what they looked like. The Treecko — that was what the professor had called her, a Treecko, so maybe that was all she really was — seemed perfectly happy to be fighting for a trainer. So there was nothing really _wrong_ here, was there? This world wasn't quite what Hester had expected, and it would take some getting used to, but it was nothing to kill herself over.

"So, Hester," Birch said, "I understand you don't have your own Pokémon yet. As thanks for rescuing me, I'd like to make you a registered trainer with your own Pokédex. You can take the Pokémon you used earlier, or," he continued with a sly wink, "we could find you a boy, if you prefer."

Or maybe it was, and thinking clearly would only make it worse.

"No! She doesn't want a boy!" the Treecko cut in. "Hester is _my_ trainer! She said so!" She jumped off the examination table, ran to Hester's side, and hugged her arm possessively. "Tell him, Hester!"

"I don't want a boy," Hester agreed.

"Ah. Say no more!" The professor winked again, and Hester realized with a lurch of her guts that she hadn't made the point she'd thought she was making at all. "While you're at it, why not give a name to that Treecko?"

"You don't have a name already?" Hester asked the little Pokémon.

"Of course not! You're my first trainer!" The Treecko bounced up and down, nearly jerking Hester's arm out of its socket. "What are you going to call me, Hester?"

Hester's first ever Pokémon had been a Treecko, and she had named him Cecil — because, in her eight-year-old opinion, he had _looked_ like a Cecil. Maybe it was the reptilian hiss of the soft C's.

"Cecily?" Hester asked. "Is that a good name?"

The Treecko gasped in delight. "It's beautiful! Am I pretty enough to be a Cecily, Hester? Do you really think so?"

"Sure," said Hester.

"Hurray!" said Cecily, and Hester slowly realized that she'd walked herself into a trap.

She couldn't jump off a cliff if she had a Pokémon to take care of.


	2. A Long, Dark Road Ahead

**Chapter 2: A Long, Dark Road Ahead**

The professor outfitted Hester with a Pokédex, potions, and Pokéballs, then sent her back with a letter to the woman who was supposed to be her mother. Caroline, he called her.

Caroline read the letter with a bittersweet smile. "Well, of course this day was coming," she said to Hester. "You're your father's daughter, after all. And I suppose there's no point settling into a new home if you're going to be leaving on a journey soon. Still, I'm a little surprised," she said with a glance at Cecily. "I always thought you'd want a boy."

"I don't care about that," Hester said. Focusing on what a relief it was that at least she wasn't having this conversation with her real mother made having it with her fake mother _just_ bearable. "All I want is a strong Pokémon I can raise to challenge the Pokémon League."

That was the way to fix this, wasn't it? Jirachi had said that defeating the champion would give her the power to shape the world. At the time, that had sounded more questionable than appealing, but now she wanted it enough that she was even willing to play along. The idea of catching Pokémon like the Poochyena who'd attacked Birch still felt wrong to her, but she'd done starter-only runs before — and Cecily _wanted_ to be her Pokémon.

"Your father's daughter indeed." Caroline shook her head, still smiling. "Sweetheart, you're young and going on the adventure. Don't worry so much about winning that you don't have any fun along the way."

"All right," Hester said, for the sake of ending the discussion.

Caroline helped her pack up some camping supplies, then walked with her and Cecily to the road at the edge of town.

"You're going to have the time of your life," she said, and kissed her cheek.

"Bye," said Hester, and left as quickly as she could without obviously running.

—

"You're being awfully quiet," Hester said to Cecily. They'd been hiking for a few hours, only ever speaking to each other when Hester commanded Cecily to chase off the wild Poochyena and Zigzagoon that occasionally attacked.

"So are you," said Cecily. "I didn't want to disturb your thoughts. I'm sorry, did you want to talk?"

"I don't mind," said Hester. "It's just different than how you were earlier."

"You mean when we first met? I was really excited then. Sorry if I was too noisy."

"It's really that exciting to have a trainer?"

"Of course! All Pokémon want to have a trainer, more than anything! I mean, wild Pokémon don't always _know _they want it, but that's only because they weren't raised right."

"I think 'not knowing you want something' means you don't want it," said Hester.

"Really? Well, they _should_ want it, then, because having a trainer is how you get to go on adventures and see the world. It's how you grow as a fighter, and learn to reach your full potential. And it's how you know you'll always be loved."

She walked a little bit closer to Hester and let their hands brush together. Hester stepped away and folded her arms across her chest.

The sun was just starting to set when they crested a hill and saw the sparse lights of Oldale Town shining in the distance. Hester took a deep breath and began to walk faster. They could make it before nightfall if they hurried.

"Hester, wait!" said Cecily, breaking into a jog to keep pace with her shorter legs.

"Sorry," said Hester, coming to a stop. "Would you like me to carry you in your Pokéball?"

"No, it's not that," said Cecily. "I can keep up, promise! It's just, well... do you _really_ want to sleep in a Pokécenter tonight?"

"Yes," said Hester. "Do you not want to?"

"I want whatever you want!" Cecily said quickly. "Only... I thought, since it's our first night together, it would be more romantic to spend it out under the stars. Just the two of us." She leaned in against Hester and looked up at her with a nervous smile, her golden eyes warm and shining in the cold, pale light of evening.

Hester took a large step back. "I'm not sleeping with you."

"You... don't like me?" Cecily wilted. "You really _did_ want a boy, didn't you? Everyone said so."

"That's not the problem," Hester told her. "I like boys and girls. But I'm not interested in either if they look like they're twelve."

"Are we waiting until I've evolved, then?" Cecily asked hopefully. "I'll have a more mature look when I'm a Grovyle."

"But you'll still be a Pokémon."

"So?"

"So," said Hester, feeling her face flush with directionless anger, "I _own _you. Even if I wanted to... to do something like _that_ — and I really, really doubt I would, after _raising_ you myself — it would be wrong."

"Why?" asked Cecily.

Hester opened her mouth to respond, but closed it again when no words came, only the feeling that she was about to retch.

Instead, she lifted Cecily's Pokéball and said simply, "Return." A beam of red light shot out at Cecily and pulled her into it.

Hester, her pulse pounding in her temple, continued on her way to Oldale.

—

Hester stared suspiciously at her tray of Pokécenter food.

"Where does meat come from?" she asked the boy seated next to her.

The other trainer blinked at her. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," said Hester.

"It comes from factories," said the boy, like that was the most obvious thing ever. To him, it probably was.

"What happens in those factories?"

"Uh. Well, I'm not an expert or anything, but it's grown on these racks that sort of... stretch it out, I think? Like exercising muscles."

That sounded a little bit weird, but at least it wasn't evil-weird. Hester took a bite of hamburger steak and found it tasted perfectly normal.

That all raised another question, though.

"What do wild Pokémon eat?"

The boy dropped his fork. "Were you born under a _rock_?"

"Let's pretend I was," said Hester.

He sighed. "Berries. Plants. I mean, it varies from species to species. Some just eat grass."

"And the carnivores?"

"What are carnivores?"

"The ones with sharp teeth. Do they not eat other Pokémon?"

"_What_?! No! Why would they... what is _wrong _with you?" The boy picked up his tray and moved to an empty table.

Hester sighed with relief. Maybe not _everything_ about this world was terrible. Nature was peaceful, and wild creatures, such as they were, lived in harmony with each other.

Except... No. That wasn't right at all.

Without predators, everything else would overpopulate and starve. Even she knew that — it was basic biology.

The Zigzagoon and Poochyena she'd seen on the Route 101 didn't look like they were starving, though. Maybe humans were sufficient predators? Just how many Pokémon did trainers take out of the wild?

"Excuse me, Miss?" A nurse interrupted her thoughts. "Your Pokémon is ready." She handed over Cecily's Pokéball.

"Oh," said Hester. "Thank you."

"Have a good evening, Miss," the nurse said, and walked away.

Hester hesitated for just a moment before pressing the release button. "Do you need me to get you something to eat?" she asked when Cecily appeared.

"Huh? Oh, no. The nurse fed me," Cecily said. She wrung her hands. "Would you mind if I sat next to you while you ate, though?"

"Sure," said Hester, and Cecily climbed up on the bench beside her.

"I'm really sorry about earlier," Cecily said.

"Don't be," Hester told her. "_I'm_ sorry, for losing my temper like that."

"But that was only to be expected, because I was arguing with you. I've been thinking about it a lot, and I understand now. You said you only care about strong Pokémon who can win, right? So... I'll get really strong for you. It's a promise."

Hester opened her mouth to argue, but realized there was nothing she could say to that. She _was_ counting on Cecily to get strong. It was the only way she could win the Great Wish Stakes and fix all this.

She put her fork down. Suddenly, she didn't feel like eating anymore.


	3. The Enemy

**Chapter 3: The Enemy**

"Hester? Hester Coltsfoot?"

Hester had just barely started down Route 102 when she heard someone calling her name, and turned back to see a boy around her age with a familiar jagged white beanie running after her.

"Brendan?" Hester tensed. "How did you know my name?"

"So it is you!" The boy came to a stop beside her and doubled over panting. "I could ask you the same thing — and I bet the answered would be the same, too. My dad told me all about you! Thanks for looking out for him. He's really smart, but he can be kind of spacey sometimes."

"Don't thank me," said Hester. "Thank Cecily. All I did was let her out of the Pokéball. She's the one who fought off the Poochyena."

"Haha, if you say so!" He turned to Cecily. "Cecily, is it? Thanks for saving my dad."

"You're welcome," said Cecily, looking mildly confused.

Brendan looked back at Hester. "Should I also ask _Cecily_ if she wants to battle? Or are you good enough for that?"

"That's all right, isn't it, Cecily?" Hester asked.

"Of course, Hester! I'll show you just how strong I really am." She grinned.

"All right! Go, Blaise!" Brendan hurled a Pokéball, and a girl with short orange hair and three long yellow plumes sprouting from the back of her head appeared.

"Hester, it's a fire type," Cecily said uncertainly.

"Don't worry," said Hester. "I think she only knows scratch. Just go in and pound her till she drops — and try to stay clear of her feet, since that's where the talons are."

Cecily nodded and charged the Torchic.

When she was about a yard away, Brendan called out, "Now, Blaise! Ember!"

Blaise opened her mouth and breathed out a little ball of flame, catching Cecily point blank with no room to dodge. She screamed in pain and stopped short, reeling.

While Hester stood dumb, trying desperately to think if there was any way to win now, Brendan called out, "Again!"

Blaise fired another burning shot, and Cecily collapsed to the ground, defeated.

"Cecily?" Without thinking, Hester ran up beside her and kneeled over her. "Cecily, are you all right?"

Cecily lay breathing heavily, and groaned when Hester shook her.

"Oh geeze, was that your first loss?" Brendan asked. "Hey, don't touch her — she's all burned up. Here, I'll heal her for you."

He kneeled down next to Hester, rummaged in his bag, and pulled out two kinds of squirt bottles and a small, diamond-shaped tablet. He slipped the tablet into Cecily's mouth and sprayed the burn marks on her skin with the bottles. Cecily swallowed, gasped, and sat up.

"Sorry," she said to Hester. "I wasn't strong enough."

Hester's throat clenched. "No, that was my fault," she said, helping her to her feet. "I told you the wrong thing."

"To be fair, you were almost right," Brendan said, calling back his Pokémon into her ball. "If you'd caught me yesterday, Blaise wouldn't have known that move. We spent all last night training on Route 103."

That explained why she hadn't seen him at the Pokécenter, Hester supposed.

"It's a shame that battle was so short, but it's not your fault you were at a type disadvantage," Brendan continued. "Let's fight again when we have bigger, more balanced teams, all right?"

"Sure," said Hester, and waved good bye to him, hoping that would cue him to leave.

Brendan waved back, laughing a little awkwardly, and went on his way.

"I'm really sorry," Cecily said again as she fell into step beside Hester. "I'll win the next one."

"Are you sure you're okay to walk after that?" Hester asked her.

"Of course!" said Cecily. "I'm all healed up! I can walk, I can fight — look!" she exclaimed as she came to the top of a hill. "There's another trainer just down there! Let's go get him, Hester!"

She tugged at Hester's arm, and Hester half-ran after her to keep from toppling over and rolling down the hill.

—

They fought another three battles before nightfall, and won two of them.

"It's okay though!" Cecily said as Hester put out the campfire and rolled out her sleeping bag. "I'm already getting stronger! Soon I won't lose at all!"

"It's fine if you lose sometimes," Hester told her.

"Oh, that's right. Because you'll have other Pokémon you can count on for those times," Cecily agreed.

"Right," said Hester, climbing into the bag and zipping it up around her. "Do you need to go back in your Pokéball so you won't be cold?"

"No, I'll stay out and keep watch," Cecily said confidently. "I don't want you to get attacked by wild Pokémon while you're sleeping."

"All right," said Hester, and closed her eyes.

There was a long, blessed moment of silence, and then: "You _are_ going to catch more Pokémon, right, Hester? You just haven't seen one you wanted yet."

"Maybe," said Hester.

"I promise I won't be jealous," Cecily said. "Not even if you like them more than me."

Hester rather doubted that.

"Sorry if it sounds like I'm complaining," Cecily continued. "It's just... you said you wanted to challenge the Pokémon League, and you've got to know I can't do that on my own, right? I mean, not that I'd be on my own," she corrected herself quickly. "You _and_ I can't do it on _our _own."

"Didn't you say that wild Pokémon don't want trainers?" Hester asked.

"Only because they don't know better. And they especially don't know _you_. You're the best trainer ever."

Hester wondered whether she really believed that. She knew better by now than to ask.

"I'll think about it," she said instead. "But now it's time to sleep."

"Okay," said Cecily, and lay down on the ground beside her sleeping bag.

—

Petalburg City was bigger than Oldale or Littleroot, but still hardly big enough to be called anything more than a town. The roads were made of dirt and lined with grass and wildflowers, and if you took a wrong turn anywhere you would find yourself swallowed up in trees or blocked by the edge of a lake.

It did, however, have a gym. Hester didn't know if she would be able to challenge it yet — not everything she'd seen so far had followed the script of the game, but some things certainly had. Still, after stopping by the Pokécenter to grab a quick lunch and make sure Cecily was in top shape, she headed over.

The door was locked when she got there, with a sign that said for would-be challengers to come back later in the day. Hester knocked anyway, because maybe the rules didn't apply to the gym leader's fake daughter.

Norman himself opened the door. "Hester? What are you doing all the way out here?"

"Hello, Father," said Hester. "I'm a trainer now. I came to challenge you."

Norman looked from Hester to Cecily and back to Hester, blinked, and then finally cracked a smile. "Well look at you! I'm afraid I'm not taking challengers right now, but come on in. There's someone I'd like you to meet."

_He must mean Wally, _Hester thought as she followed him inside.

Instead, she found herself facing a college-age boy in a black trench coat and fedora, with curly red hair and a sparse beard that grew more under his chin than on it.

"Basil, this is my daughter Hester," Norman said to the boy, then turned back to Hester. "I'm sure my guest needs no introduction."

Though she was fairly certain she could recognize anyone of importance in Hoenn's Pokémon scene, Hester had absolutely no idea who this Basil was.

"No, of course not," she lied.

"I'll introduce myself anyway," Basil said. He strode forward and shook her hand with a knuckle-crunching squeeze. "I'm Basil King, champion of the Hoenn region Pokémon League. It's a pleasure to meet you, Hester."

"Same here," said Hester, and felt a bit like throwing up.

Basil King, she remembered now, was the name of a boy who had wished himself away about a year ago. If he was the champion now, and becoming the champion meant gaining the power to shape the world, did that mean that everything wrong was his fault?

Basil hadn't been the last person in the chain to disappear, though. If he was the champion, and Hester was the hero, then what — and where — was everyone else?

Basil let go of her hand and turned to Norman. "It seems to me that now would be a good time for a break. You can go help that boy who came here earlier looking for assistance catching a Pokémon. Your daughter will stay here to entertain me."

"I'd rather go with my dad," Hester said quickly. "It's been so long since I've seen him!" She hurried over to Norman, hugged him, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Now, Hester," Norman said, hugging her back only briefly before stepping away, "we can catch up later. You be a good hostess for the League champion." Before she could object further, he was out the door.

The moment he was gone, Basil laughed. "Well, that's awkward. Most of you girls prefer Wallace — at least he's only gay, not related."

Hester felt her face go warm. "Maybe I just didn't want to be left alone with a rapist," she said.

Basil laughed again, and leaned back against the gym statue. "Don't flatter yourself. You're much too dark for my taste. Some daughter of Norman and Caroline! Maybe you're supposed to be adopted, but even then, you'd think they'd have taught you how to do your hair like a normal person."

"Hester, are you in danger?" Cecily asked, stepping between her and Basil.

"And you walk around with your Pokémon out!" Basil continued. "That's cute!" He stepped forward and cupped Cecily's face in his hand. "Have you not caught any others, or is she just your favorite?"

"Cecily, get away from there!" Hester grabbed the Treecko's hand and pulled her back.

"Relax, relax!" Basil chided. "I'm not going to hurt _either _of you. In fact, I'm here to offer you a warning, and then some advice."

"I'd rather have some explanations," said Hester.

"I've tried that before." Basil sighed. "It never works. You either don't believe me, or else don't care. Jirachi always picks people who will keep fighting no matter what, so I've decided to wash my hands of the whole thing. Still, I'm too nice a person for my own good. I have to at least do what I can." He took a step closer, and Hester tensed. "First of all, have you run into Team Aqua yet?"

"No," said Hester.

"Good," said Basil. "You will, though. There's one female grunt in particular who will pretend to have all of the answers. My warning is: don't listen to her. She's gotten a couple of you killed already."

"A couple of who?" Hester asked.

"Heroes," Basil deadpanned. "Protagonists. _Chosen ones_. I hope you didn't think that title made you invincible, or even likely to win."

"I didn't."

"Also good! That puts you a step ahead of some of the others! Now, for the advice: don't rush things. Enjoy yourself! Build a secret base, climb a waterfall, do everything you've ever dreamed of doing in the Pokémon world — and make sure to do it _before_ you challenge me."

"Why?"

"Unfortunately, telling you that would get into _explaining_ things. Which, as I've said, I don't do anymore." He reached out to pat her on the head, but Hester ducked away from him. "Now, if you like, you may go out and fetch your 'father'. He won't accept your challenge yet, by the way — but then, you probably already knew that."

"Come on, Cecily," Hester said, and hurried out the door still holding her hand.

"Hester, I don't understand what's going on at all," Cecily said as they jogged back toward Route 102.

"I don't either," said Hester. "But I swear I'm going to figure it out."


	4. A Flaw in the Plan

**Chapter 4: A Flaw in the Plan**

On Route 104, Hester took her shoes off and walked along the wet sand where the waves lapped the shore. She'd never been to the ocean before, and that was something she had always wanted to do. It wasn't particularly satisfying, just squishy and a little cold.

Her feet sank deep into the loose mud, leaving indentations she could see trailing behind her whenever she looked over her shoulder. She remembered being young and gleefully wasting hours making May run around this same beach while waiting for eggs to hatch. Footprints appearing in the sand had seemed like a minor miracle when it happened on the screen of her Game Boy Advance — but in real life, it was a given, and that took all the thrill out of it.

"You left Petalburg awfully quick," Cecily mused, wading in the water beside her. "I thought you wanted to spend time with your dad."

"We'll go back when I have four badges," Hester said. "He'll battle me then."

"Oh." Cecily kicked the water as she walked, splashing her dress a little. "Is that really _all_ you care about, then? Badges and battles?"

"It's all I have to go on,"

Cecily sighed. "I don't understand what you mean by that, Hester."

"I know you don't. But I can't really explain it." If she tried, Cecily would probably think she was crazy.

Just then, they came upon a gaggle of chattering, naked girls with blue-and-white-feathered wings instead of arms. Wingull, Hester told herself. Not girls, but Wingull. They chased each other around in the surf, kicking up water at one another and cackling when they scored a hit.

Hester felt her chest go tight. A Wingull was exactly what she needed for dealing with the fire- and bug-types that Cecily couldn't handle. They wouldn't be bad against ice- or flying-types either. They'd be doubly weak to electricity, but Cecily could defend against _that_. If Hester was going to build a team with better coverage — and she would have to, sooner or late, if she was serious about defeating Basil — this was obviously the place to start.

"Cecily," she whispered, inclining her head in the direction of the Wingull, "can you get just close enough to use absorb on one of them?"

Cecily grinned and nodded, then crept toward the flock, lifted her hands, and fired two energy-draining red beams at the nearest Wingull, who cried out in shock.

As one, the flock turned toward Cecily and swarmed her, spitting water.

"Hester, what do I do?!" Cecily called out, crouching down and covering her head.

"Pound!" Hester called back to her. "Just swing your tail around and whack them all away! It should be fine, I think their only damaging attack is water gun!"

She really hoped she was right about that this time.

Cecily trusted her enough to stand up and begin fighting back. When one of the Wingull was slammed to the ground, Hester threw a Pokéball at it. The ball twitched once, twice — and then clicked and went still.

The other Wingull screamed in rage and flew at Hester.

"Trainer!" 

"Fucking trainer!"

"Go home, trainer!"

Hester stooped down, scooped up fistfuls of mud, and flung it at their faces. That stopped a couple of them short, but she wasn't fast enough to get them all, and soon a high-pressure stream of water knocked her on her back in the surf. She covered her face to keep the next blasts of water from going directly into her nose and mouth, but that didn't exactly allow her to breathe.

"Leave her alone!" Cecily came charging in and hit the Wingull from behind, distracting them just long enough for Hester to get up onto her knees and start throwing mud again. Harassed from both sides, the Wingull at last gave up and flew away.

Hester rose to her feet, dripping wet and gritty with sand and salt, and went to collect the Pokéball.

—

Having had just about enough of Wingull for one day, Hester waited until she made camp that night before letting out her new Pokémon.

When she hit the button on the Pokéball, the Wingull appeared before her in a blue-and-white sailor dress. So Pokéballs clothed captured Pokémon automatically. That was a relief. Hester had just about gotten used to seeing naked girls wandering around in the wilds, but actually standing around talking to one would still have been awkward.

It took her a second to think to wonder whether Pokéballs might change anything else about the Pokémon caught in them.

"Um, hello," she said, putting that thought aside for the moment. "My name is Hester, and this is Cecily. What's your name?"

"Screw you!" said the Wingull, and flew directly at her.

Hester cringed, but the Wingull stopped short and cried out in pain.

"Maybe we _should_ call her that," Cecily said, sounding just a bit smug. "Screw You, don't you know you can't hurt the trainer you're registered to? The same thing will happen if you go too far from your Pokéball," she added quickly as the Wingull turned to fly in the other direction. "So don't try it."

"Listen, I'm really sorry about this—" Hester began.

"No you're not," the Wingull interrupted her. "'Sorry' means you stop doing the thing."

"—but I really, _really _need to build a strong, balanced team. There's no other way. I don't expect you to understand or to like me, but I would at least like to know your name. If you already have one, I don't want to give you another. And I don't want Cecily calling you _that_, either," she added, shooting a glare at the Treecko.

The Wingull sighed. "It's Ate All The Persim Berries."

"That's a long name," said Hester.

The Wingull shrugged. "There are longer."

"Would you mind if I called you Persim? Or Berry?"

"Yes."

"Which one?" 

"Yes, I would mind. Neither of those is my name"

"Oh. Well... what do the other Wingull call you when they want to get your attention quickly?"

"Ate All," said Ate All.

"All right," said Hester, "would you like for me to call you that?"

"No. I would like for you to not call me anything ever, because I would much prefer to go back to my friends now and never speak to you again. But that's clearly not happening, so I'll take it."

"Okay," said Hester.

She then lit the campfire, only for Ate All to immediately douse it.

Hester buried her face in her hands. "I'm trying to heat up dinner for _all_ of us, Ate All."

"Don't care." Ate All smirked. "You're off limits, but apparently your stuff isn't."

"No, actually, it is." Hester lifted Ate All's Pokéball. "I'll let you out again when there's food ready," she said, and called her back.

"You _should_ just make her go without eating tonight," said Cecily. "It's the only way she'll learn."

"Shut up," said Hester, who was still damp and dirty from her fall earlier, and now had to collect a whole fresh batch firewood as well as figure out a way to make Ate All not hate her.

"Sorry," said Cecily. "You're right, I have no business telling you what to do. I just wanted to help, and you can be so _friendly_ I forget I shouldn't talk to you like that, and honestly I'm still a little confused about what you want from me, but I'll do my best—"

Hester stood up. "I'm going out to get more firewood," she said, and did so.


	5. A Question of Devils

**Chapter 5: A Question of Devils**

"Go, Ava!"

The opposing trainer sent out his Pokémon, a Taillow, and Hester blinked.

"She has a beak," she observed out loud. Between that and the wings in place of arms, she looked more like a truly inhuman creature than most of the Pokémon she had encountered so far.

"Of course she does! She needs it for attacking." The boy grinned. "It means she can't give bjs very well, but I think other things are more fun anyway."

Ava blushed and looked at the ground, but said nothing.

"Oh. But I guess it would be more of a problem for you, huh?" the boy continued conversationally. "Especially since she doesn't have hands either."

Hester felt the back of her neck go hot. The only thing worse than being reminded that other trainers fucked their Pokémon was being reminded that they assumed she did, too.

"Let's just get this going," she said, and sent out Ate All.

It was a risky move. Hester hadn't tried battling with Ate All yet, and for all she knew, the Wingull would simply refuse to listen to a word she said. But she couldn't send Cecily out against a flying-type who actually had flying-type moves.

"All right, let's do it!" said the boy, still grinning obliviously. "Ava, use peck!"

"Ate All, supersonic!"

Ate All stood perfectly still as Ava flew at her, beak-first.

Hester tensed. What would she do if Ate All simply refused to fight for her? Release her? But what would she do if _all_ her captured Pokémon refused to fight? Was her quest to overthrow Basil going to turn into a constant struggle against captive "allies" who hated her?

Suddenly, the Taillow's eyes widened. She veered off at an angle and crashed face-first into the ground.

"God damn it!" said the boy. "I _hate_ confusion. Ava, get back up and try again!"

Oh — Ate All _was_ listening to her. Hester instantly felt stupid. Of course an attack called supersonic would be invisible and inaudible in the real world.

Emboldened, she called out, "Ate All, keep your distance and use water gun! You've got a longer range of attack than she does!"

Ate All took off into the air. The Taillow tried to follow her, but kept dizzily zigzagging and spinning around. Ate All hammered her with blasts of water until she fell to the ground defeated.

"What an annoying tactic." The boy sighed, recalling his Pokémon. "Still, good battle."

"Good battle," Hester echoed without feeling. "Do you need help healing Ava?"

"Nah, that's not your job," the boy said. "Besides, she can sleep it off — might teach her to try harder next time. Thanks for the offer, though."

"Okay, bye," said Hester, and walked off as quickly as she could, Cecily jogging at her side and Ate All trailing behind her.

"You're not going to call me back?" Ate All asked.

"Do you want me to?" asked Hester.

"I really don't care."

"Oh," said Hester. She'd sort of hoped that Ate All would appreciate being let out, and maybe hate her a little less for it. "Thank you for cooperating back there."

"_Cooperating_?" Ate All laughed bitterly. "You sent me out into battle! What was I going to do, stand there and let myself get beaten up just to prove a point?"

"Some captured Pokémon do that!" Cecily chimed in.

"Well, they're idiots," said Ate All. "Brave idiots, but idiots."

"Finally something we agree on," Cecily said with a smile. "You know, you're really not that bad. You just need to learn some manners."

"I think she's fine the way she is," said Hester.

Ate All laughed again. "Thank you, kind Mistress."

"You can call me Hester."

"Thank you, kind and _humble_ Mistress."

Hester decided to just stop talking.

—

Petalburg Woods was dark and dense, the trails through it thin and in places broken by encroaching shrubs and grasses. Where they curved, it was sometimes hard to see past the walls of trees that lined them, so when the fleeing Devon Corp scientist came careening around a corner, he nearly collided with Hester.

"Oh, you're a trainer! Help me, please!" he exclaimed, and ducked behind Hester and her Pokémon just as the Team Aqua grunt pursuing him came into view.

"There you are!" said the grunt, looking at Hester rather than the scientist as she spoke. That was a little bit strange, Hester thought. Also strange that it was a woman — it had always been a man in the games. "I don't suppose you're going to step aside and let me nab those papers from your new friend there?"

Hester looked over her shoulder at the pathetically cowering scientist, then took a step forward. "I don't think so."

"Great! Absolutely perfect!" The grunt clapped her hands together and grinned with all her teeth. "Looks like we've got a hero here! Well then, hero, show me what you've got! Go, Dandelion!" She hurled a Pokéball, and an elegant blue-haired woman with a silver beak, a feathery tail, and cloud-shaped wings appeared. She was dressed just like her trainer, in a black-and-white striped shirt, loose-fitting blue trousers, and an insignia bandana.

"A Swablu?" Hester asked, and felt her heart speed up a little. That was definitely not a Team Aqua Pokémon.

"An Altaria, actually," said Dandelion. She looked from Cecily to Ate All and then back to Hester's fallen face. "Oh dear. I don't think this is going to go well for you."

Hester turned to the scientist. "Keep running," she told him. "I can hold them off for a couple minutes." The scientist gulped, nodded, and took off.

"You can go after him, Ma'am," said Dandelion to her trainer. "I'll keep these ones busy."

"Nah, she's more important than he is," the grunt said, her grin broadening. "Way, way more important. I'll stay and play." She looked back to Hester. "Well, it's your move, hero! Come at us!"

"Cecily, keep your distance and use absorb," Hester commanded, thinking fast. "Ate All, use supersonic, then get in close and keep her from moving toward me or Cecily!" This wasn't a friendly or official fight, so there was no reason she couldn't use both her Pokémon at once — and no reason this criminal couldn't send her Altaria right at _her_ if she told both of them to just keep away from her.

Cecily immediately followed her orders, but Ate All rolled her eyes. "Like I'm really gonna play meat shield for you and your precious _domestic_," she scoffed. She stood next to Cecily and used water gun at long range instead.

"Ate All, no!" Hester called frantically. "I only meant because Cecily is weak to—"

"Dandelion, use fly!" the grunt called.

Dandelion, carelessly shrugging off Cecily's and Ate All's attacks, flew up to the canopy, then came crashing down on Cecily beak-first. Cecily screamed and collapsed to the ground, bruised and lacerated.

Ate All was struck by Dandelion's wing and thrown back. She reeled a little from the impact, but kept her feet under her and fired off another water gun.

The grunt called out, "Dragon pulse!" and the beam of shining raw energy Dandelion launched in response vaporized the stream of water and sent Ate All flying into the trunk of a tree.

"Cecily! Ate All! Are you all right?" Hester called out desperately.

Neither of them responded, or even stirred from where they lay.

"Well, that's a problem," said the grunt, frowning. "You're going to have to get a lot stronger, hero."

"Shall I punish her for getting in our way, Ma'am?" the Altaria asked.

"Haha! _No_, you bloodthirsty little monster!" said the grunt, affection dripping from her voice with every word. "This one's _different_ from other trainers. I'm sure she's trying her best to be good. Speaking of which — hey, hero! Why _did _you go out of your way to help out some guy you don't even know?"

"I couldn't just do nothing and let someone get hurt," Hester said. "Why do you care?"

"Of course." The grunt shook her head. "It's a nice ideal, but you didn't think through all the facts. Dandelion just hurt both of your Pokémon way worse than I would have hurt that idiot. All I wanted from him were those papers he was carrying, you know?"

"Oh," said Hester, and felt a little bit dizzy and a little bit sick. She'd really just forgotten to think of her Pokémon as people in their own rights, and in such a blatantly obvious way that _Team Aqua_ was pointing it out to her.

Only... this woman wasn't a normal member of Team Aqua, was she?

"Hold on. Are you the female grunt Basil warned me not to listen to?" she asked.

"Probably!" The grunt laughed. "So he's onto me now, is he? Well, that will make things interesting."

"Then I think I should probably listen to you," Hester said. "If you actually have anything to say."

"That'll have to wait. Unfortunately, I'm kind of busy right now. I've gotta see if I can't catch that guy you let get away, and then I have business in Rustboro."

"I'm headed to Rustboro."

"Great! I guess we'll meet up there! Come on, Dandelion!"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

As the grunt passed by Hester, she turned her head to look her in the eye. "Here's a little something for you to chew on until we see each other again: what does it mean if you're in Hell with the Devil and the Devil wants out?"

Before Hester could think of a response, the grunt reached into her pocket and pulled out two max revives, pressed them into Hester's hand, and ran off down the path.


End file.
